State System Teachers Approve Contract

Faculty at West Chester University and 13 other Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Schools have agreed to a new contract.

Credit Kyle Wagaman / Flickr

Unionized faculty members at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities have overwhelmingly endorsed a new four-year contract.

The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) said Friday that 95 percent of the faculty members who voted supported the pact.

“We are pleased with the outcome of the vote taken by the APSCUF membership to ratify the tentative agreement on a new faculty contract,” said Gary Dent, PASSHE vice chancellor for human resources and labor relations. “The tentative agreement will now go to the Board of Governors for its consideration.”

The Board has scheduled a special meeting for March 20 to consider that agreement as well as a separate deal with athletic coaches who voted earlier to approve a new four-year contract.

APSCUF represents both bargaining units, which separately include about 5,500 faculty and 600 coaches.

The faculty members have been working without a contract since June 2011.

The four-year pact recommended by union leaders includes concessions on health care, but calls for pay raises of 1 or 2 percent in each of the last three years.